How to run a content audit: build a page inventory, judge every URL, fix cannibalisation, outdated and thin content, check E-E-A-T and decide clearly.
A content audit answers one plain question for every page on your site: keep it, update it, merge it or delete it? This article takes you from the inventory to the decision, covers the problems you’re likely to run into along the way, and gives you a simple framework you can use straight away.
More content isn’t automatically better. Sites grow over the years, and at some point old blog posts, forgotten landing pages and near-duplicates start competing with each other. An audit clears that up.
Step 1: Build an inventory
Before you judge anything, you need a complete list. Good sources:
- your XML sitemap
- a crawl of the site with an SEO crawler
- the page list from your CMS
- the Performance report in Google Search Console (the “Pages” tab)
- your web analytics
Combine everything into one spreadsheet. For each URL, record at least: title, page type, topic or main search term, last updated date, clicks and impressions from Search Console, and the number of internal links pointing to it. Add conversions if you track them.
You’ll almost certainly find pages nobody remembered existed.
Step 2: Judge every page
Each URL gets exactly one of four verdicts:
- Keep: The page is current, matches search intent and does its job. Leave it alone apart from occasional checks.
- Update: The topic is relevant, but the content is out of date, incomplete or badly structured.
- Merge: Several pages cover the same topic. Combine them into one strong page and 301-redirect the others to it.
- Delete and redirect: The page no longer serves a purpose. If there’s a closely related alternative, 301 to it. If there isn’t, it’s fine for the page to return a 404 or 410.
Don’t redirect every deleted page to the homepage. Google often treats those redirects like a 404 anyway, and visitors find them confusing.
Problems you’ll run into
Keyword cannibalisation
When several pages target the same search term, Google can’t tell which one is the right answer – so it shows one, then the other. Neither becomes properly strong.
How to spot it: in Search Console, go to Performance, filter by a query, then switch to the “Pages” tab. If several of your URLs show up for the same query, take a closer look. Not every overlap is a problem; what matters is whether the pages genuinely serve the same intent.
Outdated content
Prices, contact people, regulations, software versions, a year in the title: anything that can change will eventually go stale. Outdated content costs trust even when it still brings in visits. Pay particular attention to pages that get traffic but haven’t been touched in a long time.
Thin pages
“Thin” doesn’t simply mean “short”. A page is thin when it adds nothing of its own: empty tag and archive pages, location pages that differ only in the town name, or articles that ask a question and barely answer it. These get expanded, merged or removed.
Weak E-E-A-T signals
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. The term comes from Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines and describes what helpful, reliable content looks like.
Questions to ask for each page:
- Is it clear who created the content and who stands behind it?
- Does it show first-hand experience with the topic, or just general knowledge?
- Are claims backed up or at least traceable?
- Is there a legal notice, a way to get in touch and a recognisable organisation?
- Can readers see when the content was last reviewed?
A simple decision framework
When you’re unsure about a page, work through these questions in order:
- Does the page still serve a purpose for your audience or your business? No → delete it, and redirect to a close alternative if one exists.
- Is there another page on the same topic with the same intent? Yes → merge. The stronger page stays; the weaker one redirects to it.
- Is the content current, complete and aligned with search intent? No → update it.
- All good? → keep it.
“Stronger” means more clicks, more backlinks, better rankings or simply the better content. If it’s a tie, keep the URL that fits the topic best.
After the audit
Verdicts on their own change nothing. Prioritise the work by impact: first pages that have visibility but weak content, then cannibalisation cases, and finally tidying up pages with no traffic.
Don’t forget to:
- update internal links that point to redirected or deleted pages
- refresh your XML sitemap
- request indexing for changed pages via URL Inspection in Search Console
- put a date in the diary for the next audit
Bottom line
A content audit isn’t a one-off clean-up, it’s maintenance: take stock, judge every page honestly, then follow through. If you’d like a hand, PAASKS can go through your content with you and put the plan together.